Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
“I don’t envy your position,” he murmured.
“You put me there!”
“What choice do I have?” he asked irritably. “I’ve dedicated my whole life to protecting innocents and putting away criminals, and here I’m forced to accept that three innocent people will be kidnapped a while longer just so I can grant myself more safety. From the moment I understood this was a rescue mission, people’s lives have been the bargaining chips, and I fucking hate it. But this is my job, Crew. This comes straight from the top, and I have a small window—”
“What do you mean, straight from the top?” I interrupted.
He sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You ever hear the saying that America doesn’t assassinate people—until they do?”
So he wasn’t acting alone, after all. Those were actually his orders. He was being sent to assassinate Luca Blanco.
I finally understood Dad’s joke. He used to say that our snipers were our best diplomats because they got the job done in silence and without bureaucratic tensions. No evidence, no traces, no repercussions, no sanctions.
“You won’t have Colombian forces on your side there, will you?”
“No,” he replied.
Jesus fucking Christ.
I blew out a breath and rubbed at my eyes with my thumb and middle finger. “Will you have any backup whatsoever?”
“Not in those terms,” he said vaguely. “We have an agent nearby who’s the security escort for a civilian woman we’re taking with us back to the US.”
That…that sounded like a whole other shitshow I didn’t have brain capacity to process. What civilian woman?
I took a deep breath and leaned forward again. He looked as tired as I felt.
“Is this the end of all the lies and bullshit?” I asked quietly. “Can I trust you?”
He mirrored my position and rested his forearms on the table. “I’m putting my life in your hands.”
I swallowed and glanced down at my food. It was funny how I could be hungry but have no appetite.
His life in my hands…
My hands felt more tied than ever.
I couldn’t even begin to process the gravity of what he was putting me in charge of.
I’d like to believe Elliott and the others would forgive me when all this was over. Again, seeing it entirely from an analytical and strategic point of view, making them wait for seventy-two hours was still better than them searching for weeks on their own.
We had this one chance. We could get the intel from Adrien but wait to use it till he was done with his mission…which, if I thought about it, had been his offer the whole time. Just in different words. Or, if we pretended Adrien didn’t exist, we had to chase the clues ourselves.
The third alternative didn’t exist. I couldn’t put Adrien at risk for the sake of finding Blake, Shay, and Marisa three days earlier.
But what if someone got hurt? What if shit went sideways even more and they killed Marisa? Or Blake? Or Shay?
I’d kill myself.
Anguish welled up within me, and I hugged myself loosely as my stomach cramped painfully. What kind of deranged person was I to bargain over how many extra days Blake, Marisa, and Shay would be held against their will? A single hour was too long, and I was talking about three days.
“You have till tomorrow to decide,” Adrien murmured. “But I want you to know I’ve done my best to secure your cover. As we speak, I have two men on their way to Vincente Blanco’s official residence outside of Mexicali. They’re going to blow it up.”
I looked up at him and frowned.
“It’ll keep Carillo satisfied for the time being to think Jones and the others are out to destroy everything Vincente owns,” he explained.
That was something, I guessed. In fact, it was good news. It should keep Blake, Marisa, and Shay “safe” for the time being as well. I mean, they were Carillo’s currency after all. He was holding them to ensure a job got done. And for revenge against Elliott.
I wet my bottom lip and felt a spark of hope. “Is there anything else like that we can do? If I can make…I don’t know. If I can protect them somehow, it would be easier for me to stand up against my team.”
Adrien went into thinking mode.
There had to be something.
“If I actually knew where they were being held hostage, I could’ve set them in motion somehow—force Gomez and Gajero to move to another location,” he said pensively.
I picked up my burger again, feeling better. ’Cause now we were solution-oriented. I wanted nothing more than for everyone to make it out alive, including Adrien.
“Considering the state of San Diego and LA right now,” he said, biting into his burger, “it’s possible I can use that. Vincente is turning the cities upside down in search of Carillo affiliates.”
I knew about San Diego. That’d started right after the attack on Elliott’s ranch.